A MAN who ransacked a house to feed his drug habit even though his sister died from an overdose has been jailed for two years.

Scott Bates, of Clennon Rise, Henley Green, burgled a house in Coventry last October, making away with hundreds of pounds worth of items.

He was caught after police investigating the incident found Bates’s fingerprints on a bag he had intended to use to carry stolen items from the home.

When interviewed by officers, Bates claimed to have no recollection of the evening’s events because he had taken drugs.

He couldn’t explain how his fingerprints got on the bag.

Prosecutor Blondel Thompson told Coventry Crown Court on Thursday that Bates, aged 26, committed his first burglary when he was just 13, and since then has acquired an extensive criminal record.

Defending, Richard Murray said: “There is no secret as to what drives him to come before the criminal courts.

“His parents separated at an early age and since then he has lived a transient lifestyle... he has never had any positive relationships in his life.

“In short it’s a long road that Mr Bates has to travel to get himself law abiding and drug free. And he is starting to show the first shoots of doing just that. For the first time really he is looking at his life and wanting to change it.

“The last thing he wants is to be like his brother who has an entrenched drug addiction, or be like his sister, who died from an overdose. He nearly died himself.”

Bates had pleaded guilty to this charge of burglary six weeks into a 36 week sentence for a totally different offence. He got out of prison two weeks ago.

Sentencing him to two years in jail, Judge Philip Gregory said: “You have been committing criminal offences since you were 13.

“You’ve proved yourself to be a determined thief.

“If you commit an offence of this nature again, sentencing will start at three years and will probably be a lot longer.

“I’m satisfied that nothing other than a custodial sentence can, in this case, be justified.”